Dejection: If you can't defend then can you hope to challenge at the top? (Image: John Peters)

Share

Get daily updates directly to your inbox

Thank you for subscribing!

Could not subscribe, try again laterInvalid Email

It's news to bring joy to the football purist's heart - when it comes to winning, attack really is more important than defence.

The Trinity Mirror Data Unit has ranked each club in each of the 38-game Premier League seasons based on their goal scoring and defensive records.

In 15 of the 19 seasons in question, the side with the best scoring record went on to win the league.

But just 10 of those seasons were won by the team with the best defensive records.

That doesn't mean that teams can afford to play like Manchester United - still smarting from their 5-3 loss to Leicester City - and expect to get away with it. But it does mean that a team that doesn't score enough goals is less likely to win the league than one that hardly ever concedes.

When it comes to finishing inside the top four teams need to be strong at both ends of the pitch - although again, attack seems to trump defence.

There have only been 18 out of a possible 76 occasions when a top four side has found that their defence has not been one of the four best in the league - that's less than 25 per cent.

But it is even rarer for a top-four team not to have one of the top-four attacks in the Premier League: That has happened just nine times.

Nevertheless, it is worth remembering though that if you don't concede you can't lose and that if you can keep a clean sheet, then you are always in with a chance of victory.

Over the last five seasons teams that have kept a clean sheet have gone on to win 77 percent of their games - which is kind of what you expect.

But as United fans are finding, being able to score goals galore doesn't have the same impact if your team is leaking at the other end.

There's a reason that bookmakers more often than not set the over/under for goals in Premier League matches at 2.5 goals.

Teams that scored at least one goal in a game only went on to win 57 percent of them, because usually matches see between 2-3 goals.